The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant

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Transcript of The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant

The Bass, The River, and Sheila MantSettingPlotAt the beginning, the narrator sees Sheila Mant and immediately he develops a crush on her. He does anything he can to impress her, but she doesn't notice him. The narrator finally sums up the courage to ask her on a date. On the way to Dixford a bass hooks onto the fishing rod that the narrator had accidentally left out. He had to find a way to get rid of the bass because he so desperately wanted to impress Sheila Mant. In the end he didn't get the girl or the bass.Figurative Language"It gleamed as aluminum had ever gleamed" The phrase was referring to the narrators canoe.StyleIt is reflective. The man is remembering the summer when he was 14 and he was infatuated with Sheila Mant.CharactersThis story takes place on a river between the states of New Hampshire and Vermont. It is around the 1960's or 1970's time period.ThemeThe NarratorThe narrator is a 14 year old boy who loves fishing and has a crush on Sheila Mant. He is faced with choosing between two things he desires the most in the story. He learns that he should be true to himself. The narrator is a round character, we know his motivations, and he is also a dynamic character because he changes at the end of the story when he learns his lesson.Sheila MantSheila Mant is a 17 year old girl who the narrator is obsessed with because of her looks. She is shallow and self centered. Sheila is a static character, since she doesn't change throughout the story. The BassThe bass is part of the conflict of this story. -"I immediately looked down at the rod. It was bent in the same tight arc- miraculously, the bass was still on." This shows the persistence of the bass. Know the things that you value in life; don't let someones opinion of them stop you from doing those thingsAllegory/SymbolismRiverThe river represents the narrators life and his journey.BassSheila MantThe bass represents his lifelong want/passion that he set free for something that he wanted at the moment.Sheila Mant represents an obstacle that the narrator has to face, a distraction. AllegoryLiteral meaning: The narrator let go of a fish he really wanted to impress a girlSymbolic meaning:A summer in his life when he realized that hould just go for what he wanted and not to care what people thinkLesson:The choices you make in life will affect you in a bigger way than you thinkW.D. WetherellThe author compares the relationship between the narrator and Sheila Mant with the line and the bass holding on"There was a summer in my life when the only creature that seemed lovelier to me than a large mouth bass was Sheila Mant" In this phrase the author is comparing Sheila to a fish.Conflict Fear of asking Sheila out: Man vs. SelfNarrator's battle with the bass: Man vs. NatureNarrator's choice between Sheila and the bass: Man vs. Self